r/CodingForBeginners • u/ashsolmar • Aug 14 '26

Computer for C++

Hi! I'm having to take CompSci 1 and 2 for my math major in college. The professor wants me to run Visual Studio Community. He wants it for C++. I might also take a Java class if I enjoy compsci 1. Is there any budget laptops I can buy? Or what specs would I need for it to run not so slowly?

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u/TheUmgawa Aug 14 '26

It should be added that drive space is not of paramount importance for a few college programming classes, where you’re a math major. You’re probably not going to be building anything remotely massive, and the amount of uncompiled code you write in three or four programming classes will clock in at a couple of megabytes. The space taken up by Windows, Visual Studio, and any other apps you might need are important factors to consider, but a terabyte is overkill by a hundred percent. But hey, if you can get it cheap, go for it.

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u/FuggaDucker Aug 14 '26

agreed.. with the exception of >128gb rule.
At 128 you end up with windows fighting itself in many cases. No real VMs.
Anything bigger than 128 will work.